Permutation releasable shackle-type padlocks having a latch bolt slidably carried in a rocker biased into locking engagement with a retaining notch in the short leg of the shackle are in common use at the present time. In many prior designs of such padlocks, such as those illustrated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,148,226 to Aldeen and 3,563,067 to Foote and in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,926,514 to Junkunc and 4,055,972 to Calegan assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a spring-biased latch bolt slidably carried in a rocker secures a shackle in a locked position when the rocker tongue engages the peripheries of the tumbler disks.
In such padlocks, except Aldeen U.S. Pat. No. 2,148,226, the driver tumbler is mounted to turn with the dial knob and the tumblers driven thereby are carried on a spindle within the padlock casing and biased into engagement with each other and with the driver tumbler by a spring.
It has been difficult to obtain sufficient spring pressure to release the rocker tongue carrying the latch bolt from the aligned slots of the tumblers when the tumbler slots become aligned, and the shackle is pulled outwardly of the padlock casing, to release the lock and pivot the rocker to position the latch bolt into position to lockingly engage the locking notch in the short leg of the shackle, as the shackle is inserted in the padlock casing.
Most prior padlocks also have an upsetter made of many parts, to upset the tumblers as the shackle is pulled outwardly of the padlock casing, and do not make adequate provision for upsetting the driver tumbler and last number dialed on the combination dial, except where a driver lug may come into engagement with the driver lug of the driver tumbler, upon upsetting of the padlock. This, however, usually is not common.
The advantages of the present invention are that the driver tumbler is formed integrally with its tumbler post and the padlock construction is such as to permanently secure the dial and combination disk to the tumbler post by a spinning operation, so the driver tumbler, its tumbler post, dial knob and combination disk are, in effect, one piece, which is inseparable after the padlock has been assembled, to thereby materially simplify the construction and assembly of the padlock, and increase the security thereof.
A further advantage in the invention is in the use of a single spring extending across the tumbler post for releasing the rocker tongue from the aligned tumbler slots and positioning the rocker into position to position the latch bolt carried by the rocker to reengage the shackle as the shackle is moved within the padlock casing.
A still further advantage in the invention is in the use of a one-piece upsetter rectilinearly guided within the padlock casing which positively upsets the inner driven tumbler as the shackle is moved into its open position, and upsets the driver tumbler as the shackle is moved within the padlock casing and moves the last number of the combination out of registry with the dial marker on the padlock casing.
A further advantage of the invention is to provide a simpler security permutation padlock utilizing a minimum of moving parts and so arranged that the latch bolt may also be released by a key.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.